Numerous types of flooring have been used to create playing areas for such sports as basketball and tennis, as well as for other purposes. These flooring assemblies include concrete, asphalt, wood and other materials which have varying characteristics. For each type of flooring, there are corresponding advantages and disadvantages. For example, concrete flooring is easy to construct and provides long term wear. However, the concrete provides no “give” during use and many people are injured each year during sporting events due to falls and other mishaps. Wood floors, such as are used for many basketball courts, have an appropriate amount of give to avoid such injuries. The wood floors, however, are expensive to install and require continued maintenance to keep them in good condition.
Due to these concerns, the use of modular flooring assemblies made of synthetic materials has grown in popularity. The synthetic floors are advantageous for several reasons. A first reason for the flooring assemblies' popularity is that they are typically formed of materials which are generally inexpensive and lightweight. If a tile is damaged it may easily be replaced. If the flooring needs to be temporarily removed, the individual tiles making up the floor can easily be detached, relocated, and then reattached to form a new floor in another location. Examples of modular flooring assemblies include U.S. Pat. No. Des. 274,588; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,438,312; 3,909,996; 4,436,799; 4,008,548; 4,167,599; 4,226,064 and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 255,744.
A second reason for the popularity of the flooring assemblies is that the durable plastics from which they are formed are long lasting. Unlike other long lasting alternatives, such as asphalt and concrete, the material is generally better at absorbing impacts, and there is less risk of injury if a person falls on the plastic material, as opposed to concrete or asphalt. The connections for the modular flooring assembly can even be specially engineered to absorb lateral force to avoid injuries, as is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,286. Additionally, the flooring assemblies generally require little maintenance as compared to other flooring, such as wood. However, there is a need for synthetic flooring to have better impact absorbing qualities than that found in current synthetic flooring materials. In particular, current synthetic flooring does not include characteristics of predictable and controlled deflection within the synthetic tiles under certain predicted load ranges and impacts on the synthetic flooring. Further, the current synthetic flooring materials do not exhibit the spring or bounce characteristics found in wood flooring.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a flooring tile that facilitates greater “give” to impacts as well as providing a spring characteristic to the flooring tile that is comparable or superior to that found in wood flooring while also being easy to manufacture, long lasting and cost efficient. Further, it would be advantageous to provide a flooring tile that has predictable load absorbing characteristics.